Shock absorber



l Aug. 4, 1931.

H, E. JACKSON SHOCK ABSORBER Filed Feb. 25, 1928 alla@ ATTOR N EYS.

.Unire STATES PATENT orricn HAROLD E. JACKSON, OF DETROIT, MICHIGANSHOCK ABSORBER Application led February 25, 192B. Serial No'. 256,852.

My invention relates to an improved shock is coupled up with the vehicleso that the absorber of the fluid compression type and mechanism isadapted to absorb the throw of particularly to such an article adaptedfor the vehicle body with respect to the axle. use on a motor vehicle toabsorb the road There is a casing 12 adapted to coniain a suit- 5 shocksincident to travel of the VehCl. able liquid andiprovided with a coverplate 55 AH object is tho PoVSlon of 2L Shook alo* 14 secured thereto byscrews 16 or in any sorber of the character described adapted toSuitable fashion' This Casina may be fag @hook the throw of. tho oafbody both P and tened to its point of support bby stu-ds 18 and w Ihetwo end compartments, indicated as 2() im Josed b the 'Lbsobinffmechanism in 1 y L D and 22, constitute compression chambers and eitherof said directions ot movement and the .1 tnv 1.1 t t t l. 1 to Vary thewho therebetween m met i.. e compai men mcicatec as A meritorious'feature lies in the provision 24 1S m Comfmmlcatlon with each of theend 1r, of mechanism of this type havmg two COm compartments and servesas a reservoir for G5 pression chambers communicating' through licitudEach ond Compartment hos i131 all' an intermediate chamber within whichcomdomo 26 @bow tho liquid loVol Within WhCh pression mechanism isoperatively disposed ilil 1S 'lppech and is a preferred form of to beactuated to eXert a pressureupon the CODS'CIUCOIL 29 Huid in eachCompression Chamber, and TlllS liquid level iS lldlCateCl in Fig. l by70 having controlled outlets for iiuid from both the dotted line ycompression chambers vinto the intermediate Each compression compartmentcommuni- Chamber @ach of which Outlets is adjustable Cates with theintermediate compartment to vary the restriction imposed thereby uponthrough a cylinder 28. A piston 30 is mount the flow of fluid andadjustable independed for reciprocation within each cylinder 28. 7 entlyfrom the exterior of the casing. These two pistons are here shown ascon- A point of value resides in the provision 0f nected for jointoperation and as constitutnovel valve mechanism operable to vary the inga double end piStOli CombinatlOn aCtuf restriction of the liquid outletpassageway ated by an a m 32 mounted upon a shaft 34 30 from eachcompression chamber, coupled with the arm 10 to be actuated S0 .Otheradvantages and meritorious feathereby. tures of my invention will morefully appear The pistons are similar in construction and from thefollowing specification, appended each piston is hollowed out as shownin Fig. 1 claims and accompanying` drawings, whereand is provided with aplurality of passage- 35 inways 36, four being a suitable number, ex- S5Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view taken on tending angularly through thehead of the line 1.-1 of Fig. 2. piston and terminating in ay commonpassage- Fig. 2 is a` cross-sectional view taken on way 38, the outletof which toward the rear line 2-2 of Fig. 1. of the piston is normallyclosed by a ball to Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary seccheck valve 40held thereagainst by a spring 90 tional view through the valvemechanism. 4:2 mounted within a cage L11 provided with a Fig. at is .anelevation of a fragment of the vent 46. This cage is hat shaped andhas acasing showing the valve adjustment. brim or flange portion 48l whichseats within Fig. 5 is an enlarged rear end view oil one the cored-outportion 50 of the piston and is L 1 (i.- of the pistons. held ther einby a snap ring 52. rlhis flange do Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional Viewtaken on portion has passageways 54 extending thereline 6-6 of Fig. 4.through to permit the passage of fluid from My improved shock absorberisV mounted .the intermediate chamber into the compres- 5 upon thevehicle in the conventional mansion chamber upon the unscating of theball n ner and is provided with a lever 10 which valve 40. 100

When the piston travels outwardly away i from the compression chamber20, this ball check valve 40 is unseated as the spring l2 is ya verylight spring and tluid passes readily into the compression chamberthrough the openings 36, 38 and 54. The opening 4:6 is

merely to provide a vent back of the ball checkm Each compressionchamber exhausts into the intermediate chamber through a controlledpassageway below th'e' normal liquidVv level the restriction of which isregulated by valve mechanism of the tollowing'typ'e' There is a tubularmember 56 which eX- tends from the exterior of the casingthrough the;intermediate chamber 24 andA into thev compression chamber 20, beingthreaded at oneend as at 58 for threaded adjustment into saidcompression chamber. This tubular member is providedwith a centralpassagewayGOf'asl shown, having radial outlets 62 through whichluidpasses from the comssion chamber to the intermediate chamber: f tThetldiv,otftliiidthrough this passageway 4la ed by a valve element 64held by a sp'r @6to af determined position within the telg ble tubularmember t6,l which pos ieredetermine'd by'aiiipple 68 which engages'the'-wall. of the casing shown in Figs.' 3 and6.` This valve' element 6e `isshown ixrFigs.vr 3`a=ndn6 as having aXial passageways tourV equallyspaced ones being here shown, to permit the flow of lubricant therealong,to escapegfromthe compression cham ber. These axial passagewayshowever, do not-determine thecontrolled restriction but this isdetermined by thev relative position ofgon annular liange portioncarried by val-ve' element 64 which flange portion is to measure arestriction against outlets GQforme/l throughthe tubular member 56. Itwi-llbesc'en that adjustmentof the tubu lar Inemberc with respectto theiiXed idle position of., the valve lmember 64 as' determined by thespring 66 holding said valve member'with itsv nipple bearing against thecasing wa'llwil-l vary the restriction formed by the po to-saidl oilets62- and that this adji'istment is accomplishedfby rotating thetubular memnv ber 5.6to increase or decrease said restriction;

rEhe tubularA member' is positioned within tlirea ded loch-nut 72 andhas an end flange 74 ated-as shown yin* Fig. il' providing notches .swithin which a releasable locl; member 78 heldv by` a screwrSO may seatto determine the adjustment of the valve.

,Y v Itwillrno'w appear that the flow of liquid fromeac'hcompressionchamber may be regulatedtoja tinev pointf-andindependently or the flow oi" liquid' iroml the other compressioncham-her and that this adjustment is made rromapoint erteriorlyof'the'casing and may not said-flange 70 with respect be ellected indetermined graduated amountsV to provide the required resistance to themovement of the piston. It is therefore possible not only to regulatethe resistance imposed upon the piston in either direction ot movementof the bodyvot the vehicle which actuates the piston, but likewise tovary the ratio in opposite directions.

lt; will be' seen that this shock absorber is of the type wherein theinitial movement is cushioned by the air pocket and the continuationorf/such movement is taken up by the exhaust o't liquid against theprovided restriction'.

TWhat I claim is:

l'. shock ab'sorberlhaving a pair of high pressure fluid compressionchambers connected by a' low pressure communicating cylinder, Va doubleacting piston assembly mounted-within the cylinder for reciprocation vtoexert pressure upon the yfluid in ea'chchamber, each chamber providedwith a restrictedV outlet regulating the liow of fluid therefrom to theother chamber, a` valvev extending through the outer wall and a portionof the low pressure cylinder'controling each out-let and adjustable toregulate the liow of liquid therethrough withina determined pressure andautomatically releas-` abl-e to increasesuch iiow above a determinedpressure. Y

2. A shoclr absorber having a casing divided into two'liquidcompressionchambers chamber into each compression chamber, acylinderextending from the intermediate chamber into each compresion chamber, adouble acting piston assembly within the cylinder, a' liquid mediumwithin the casing subm'erging the piston assembly means within the"vintermediate chamber engaging the piston assembly to reciprocate it toe-X-ert a pressure on thexfluid in each compression chamber, yeachcompression chamber provided wit-h an air dome arranged inthe uppermostportion thereof' aboveV the piston assembly and provided with anindependently controlled restricted outletbelow the air dome Aandb'elowthe normal liquid level for the flow of liquid therefrom intoI theintermediate chamber whereby the relative ratio of the discharge of thetwo compression chambers into the intermediate chamber may be varied,said independent .control including aj valve extending through theouter' wall and intermediate chamber into'tlie compression chamber. c

3; A shock absorber having a casingv providing two chambers, one'chamber constiti1ting a liquid reservoir' and the other chamberconstituting av liquid compression chamber communicating with thereservoir to receive liquid therefrom", means operable to exert apressure upon the liquid in the compression' 'cha'mben a. tubular memberleading from the compression chamber through the reservoir and throughkthe wall of the casinglpr'oviding Sil a passageway for liquid from thecompression chamber into the reservoir, a valve element supported withinsaid tubular member to regulate the flow of liquid through said tubularmember from the compression chamber into the reservoir, said tubularmember adjustable exteriorly of the casing to regulate the restrictionimposed by said valve element upon the flow of liquid through theopening.

4l. A shock absorber having a casing providing two chambers, one chamberconstituting a liquid reservoir and the other chamber constituting aliquid compression chamber communicating with the reservoir to receiveliquid therefrom, means operable to exert a pressure upon the liquid inthe compression chamber, a tubular member leading from the compressionchamber through the reservoir and through the wall of the casingproviding a passageway for liquid from the compression chamber into thereservoir, a'valve element supported within said tubular member underyieldable pressure at a determined position to regulate the flow ofliquid through said tubular member and automatically responsive to adetermined increase of liquid pressure within the compression chamber toincrease the flow of liquid through the tubular member, said tubularmember being adjustable to vary the restriction imposed thereon by thevalve element.

5. A shock absorber having a casing providing two chambers, one chamberconstituting a liquid reservoir and the other chamber constituting aliquid compression chamber communicating with the reservoir to receiveliquid therefrom, means operable to exert a pressure upon the liquid inthe compression chamber, a tubular member leading from the compressionchamber through the reservoir and through the wall of the casingproviding a passageway for liquid from the compression chamber into thereservoir, a valve element supported within said tubular member and heldunder spring pressure to a determined position therein to regulate theflow of liquid therethrough and automatically responsive to a determinedliquid pressure within the compression chamber to permit an increasedflow of liquid therefrom, said tubular member being threadedly mountedfor adjustment eXteriorly of the casing to vary the restriction imposedthereupon by the valve element.

6. A shock absorber comprising a casing divided into two endcompartments separated by and communicating with an intermediatecompartment, a cylinder extending from the intermediate compartment intoboth end compartments, each end compartment provided with an air domecommunicating therewith and positioned above said cylinder, a liquidmedium in the casing submerging the cylinder, reciprocating pistonmechanism mounted in t-he cylinder for operation to exert pressure uponthe liquid in either end compartment, valve mechanism for each endcompartment arranged substantially below the air dome and controllingthe flow of liquid from the intermediate compartment into the endcompartment, and valve mechanism for each end compartment arrangedsubstantially below the air dome thereof controlling the flow of liquidtherefrom into the intermediate compartment, i

said last named valve mechanism extending through the wall of the casinginto the intermediate compartment and through the intermediatecompartment to regulate the outlet from the end compartment.

7. A shock absorber comprising, in combination, a pair of high pressurecompression chambers connected by a low pressure communicating cylinder,a double acting piston assembly mounted within the cylinder forreciprocation to exert a pressure upon the fluid in each chamber, arestricted passageway leading from each of the high pressure compressionchambers into the low pressure cylinder, and means extending through theabsorber casing wall and through the low pressure cylinder adjustableexterior-ly of the casing to vary the passageway leading from the highpressure to the low pressure cylinder.

In testimony whereof, I HAROLD E. JACK- SON, sign this specification.

HAROLD E. JACKSON.

lid

